1993 Champion Spark Plug 400

Race details
Race 20 of 30 in the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1993 Champion Spark Plug 400 program cover, featuring Harry Gant. Artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass.
Date	August 15, 1993
Official name	24th Annual Champion Spark Plug 400
Location	Brooklyn, Michigan, Michigan International Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2 mi (3.2 km)
Distance	200 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km)
Scheduled Distance	200 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km)
Average speed	144.564 miles per hour (232.653 km/h)
Attendance	110,000
Pole position
Driver	Ken Schrader	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	39.834
Most laps led
Driver	Ricky Rudd	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	86
Winner
No. 6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1993 Champion Spark Plug 400 was the 20th stock car race of the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the eighth iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, August 15, 1993, before an audience of 110,000 in Brooklyn, Michigan, at Michigan International Speedway, a two-mile (3.2 km) moderate-banked D-shaped speedway. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete. Taking advantage of a blown engine on dominant driver Ricky Rudd's car, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would come to dominate the late stages of the race to take his ninth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Wood Brothers Racing driver Morgan Shepherd and Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

The layout of Michigan International Speedway, the venue where the race was held.

The race was held at Michigan International Speedway, a two-mile (3.2 km) moderate-banked D-shaped speedway located in Brooklyn, Michigan. The track is used primarily for NASCAR events. It is known as a "sister track" to Texas World Speedway as MIS's oval design was a direct basis of TWS, with moderate modifications to the banking in the corners, and was used as the basis of Auto Club Speedway. The track is owned by International Speedway Corporation. Michigan International Speedway is recognized as one of motorsports' premier facilities because of its wide racing surface and high banking (by open-wheel standards; the 18-degree banking is modest by stock car standards).

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, August 13, at 3:30 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, August 14 at 10:30 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 would be decided on time,^[3] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points; up to two provisionals were given. If needed, a past champion who did not qualify on either time or provisionals could use a champion's provisional, adding one more spot to the field.

Ken Schrader, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 39.834 and an average speed of 180.750 miles per hour (290.889 km/h) in the first round.^[4]

Ten drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 3,049 2 Dale Jarrett 2,790 (-259) 3 Rusty Wallace 2,725 (-324) 4 Mark Martin 2,707 (–342) 5 Morgan Shepherd 2,672 (–377) 6 Kyle Petty 2,539 (–510) 7 Ken Schrader 2,490 (–559) 8 Ernie Irvan 2,447 (–602) 9 Geoff Bodine 2,425 (–624) 10 Jeff Gordon 2,423 (–626) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References